


[Untitled]

by angelikitten



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: femmefest, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-28
Updated: 2009-03-28
Packaged: 2018-02-11 18:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2079096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelikitten/pseuds/angelikitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione’s not sure about boys anymore, but she definitely likes Padma. And she really needs to find out if Padma likes girls before she does anything about it...</p><p>[Also includes mentions of past Angelina/Katie, Hannah Abbott/Susan Bones (implied), unrequited Ron/Harry (implied)]</p>
            </blockquote>





	[Untitled]

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for femmefest in 2009, for nuclearsugars.
> 
> Original post: http://femmefest.livejournal.com/9077.html

Hermione probably would have never thought about it if she hadn't caught Ginny and Luna making out in the library.

Of course she'd thought about guys in that respect before. Kissing Viktor hadn't been too bad; in fact, she'd quite enjoyed it until it had caused problems with Ron. And Ron... well, there was a lost cause. No matter how much he liked her - and he did like her, she was sure of it - he wasn't going to get over his huge crush on Harry anytime soon. No matter how much he tried to deny it, it was obvious - the only crush she'd ever seen that was more obvious was the one Ginny had on Harry years ago.

Not that Ginny was even thinking about Harry, if the way she and Luna were going at it was anything to go by.

It seemed like a shame to split them up but, figuring that Madam Pince would catch them if she didn't, Hermione walked up to them and gave a little cough. The two girls barely had time to react before Hermione whispered "You're pretty... visible here. You wouldn't want Madam Pince to catch you."

The girls whispered their thanks to her before walking, separately, out of the library. Hermione walked back to her table and opened a book, but she lost interest before even finished the paragraph.

It wasn't as if girl-girl relationships were completely unheard of at Hogwarts: Angelina and Katie's relationship was legendary amongst the school's many quidditch fans, especially the Gryffindors, and most people had their suspicions about what Lavender and Parvati got up to when they were alone. But it didn't mean it was something that was widely accepted.

In fact, only a few months before, a rumour had gone around that Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones were going out. Whether they were true or not, Hermione had never found out, but both girls ended up in the hospital wing within a week of her first hearing the rumour - Hannah due to an attack by some Slytherin boys and Susan after a fist fight that started when someone had made remarks about Hannah being "too ugly for boys". And, while those were the only incidents of that kind that Hermione could think of offhand, she didn't like the idea of her physical safety being at stake just because she liked someone that way.

So why had she just spent the last five minutes gazing at Padma Patil?

Hermione had been trying not to think about it for over a year, but there was something about Padma that was exotic - not just in the tone of her skin or her slight accent, but also in that unattainable out-of-reach way. Even though she looked very much like her sister, there were differences between the two of them and the differences made her all the more attractive to Hermione.

Physically, Padma merely held herself slightly differently and dressed in a slightly different style, but just talking to the two twins separately revealed the big differences. Where Parvati would talk about fashion and boys, Padma would talk about books and theories. When Parvati complemented someone, it would most likely be on a choice of outfit, but Padma would remember something interesting they'd said in class. And Hermione liked that - Padma was obviously clever, and appreciated that in other people.

Of course, Hermione knew that she would be lying if she said that she was only interested in Padma for her mind. She was easily one of the best-looking girls in their year, probably in the whole school, and everyone knew as much. And yet, Hermione realised as she watched Padma collecting her books as the library was closing, Padma hadn't actually been seen with a boy since the Yule Ball.

Not that that actually meant anything. But it did make Hermione feel that making a move wouldn't necessarily be a waste of time. Not if she was suitably prepared, at any rate.

~*~

It was difficult to work out where to start. Obviously she had to figure out whether Padma liked girls in that way, but while the library had never completely failed her in anything, she was seriously starting to lose faith in it now. She didn't particularly want to use magic - after all, she wanted to see if Padma liked girls, not make her like girls - but the Hogwarts library seemed to offer no other alternatives. In a fit of desperation, she ordered books from various muggle universities (which her parents would receive at their house and, due to the university names on the packages, would send them straight to her at school), but they shed no light on the situation. There were no conclusive results in any studies that would actually give her a clue to Padma's preference.

Asking Ginny and Luna didn't help either. Ginny had merely told her that she hadn't really known that Luna was into girls before the day that Luna had kissed her while they were stood on the bridge. Luna had talked of some sort of swirly coloured cloud that hung around people's heads which showed which gender, or genders, they liked. Hermione tried her best to listen patiently, but had to leave after half an hour. Her head hurt from trying to understand all the tangents that Luna had gone off on.

She ended up talking to Ron near the common room fire; he was looking at her homework again, and she was just trying to think the situation through. She must have, at some point, started thinking aloud, because soon Ron was talking to her.

"A coloured cloud? I'm sure I've heard something like that before."

Hermione snorted. "Well, at least she's consistent then..."

"No," Ron shook his head. "I think Fred and George said something about it once. A potion or something. I'll owl them about it, see what they say."

~*~

Waiting a whole week for the twins' reply was excruciating. Hermione spent the whole week trying to read into Padma's every movement, every word, and got nowhere. Twice, she nearly broke into the Ravenclaw common room (they didn't even have a password, they just got asked a question, anyone could have got in) to see what she was like in a more relaxed setting, but both times she realised that she would be recognised quickly.

By the time the reply came, she was ready to just go to Padma's common room and ask her in front of everyone, which was never a good idea.

It arrived just before Hermione went to bed, and it was apparent immediately why it had been sent so late. The twins hadn't just written to say it was possible, or to give her a recipe; they'd sent the potion itself, with a warning to use it well.

Hermione nearly cheered despite herself.

~*~

The next morning, Hermione went down to breakfast early. She found Padma easily - sitting at the Ravenclaw table on her own, reading a battered book. Noticing that the only drink nearby was a jug of pumpkin juice, she opened the potion and hid it up the sleeve of her robe before walking over.

She leaned over Padma slightly to pour the potion into the waiting jug, trying to make it look like she was reading over the girl's shoulder. When she looked up, Hermione had already finished with the potion, and brightly asked "What're you reading?"

"Oh, just Hogwarts: A History. I was just... checking about something." Padma replied slowly.

"Nice." Hermione smiled. "I pretty much know it back to front, so if you want I could help you find what you need."

"No, it's okay." Padma said, going back to the book.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then." Hermione said, before walking to her own table.

Hermione sat in thought for a few minutes. Had that been a slight pinkish tinge to Padma's cheeks? But Hermione dismissed that thought quickly. _It could have been anything; she could have thought I was insulting her when I offered to help_ _..._ In an effort to stop herself from thinking about it, she looked up.

Padma had gone.

And the jug had been moved.

Hermione put her head in her hands. The jug had been a bad idea. Especially when students knew how to refill them as long they weren't quite empty. And judging by the students who were starting to find that wispy coloured clouds were forming and thickening around them, it'd had been passed around.

She decided to leave. Quickly.

~*~

The rest of the day was a disaster. Hermione had kept the twins' note with her, so that no-one else could find it and find out what it meant. Not only did she want to be in trouble for slipping half the school a potion, but she didn't want to unintentionally out a couple of hundred students. According to the notes, and the various coloured clouds, Hermione found out that Hannah Abbott wasn't as much into girls as people thought, and that Ron's crush on Harry wasn't completely hopeless.

But she didn't see Padma anywhere. And if the twins' note was right, she only had the rest of the day to find out.

~*~

Hermione's eyes widened in shock as she entered the library; partly due to the amount of people in there, but more because they looked like they were trying to swim through a pool of multicoloured candy floss. Even the people who hadn't drunk the spiked juice were being enveloped in the clouds of the people nearest them, making it hard to tell whose clouds were whose.

And in the middle of all the colours, a table full of books and a dark head of hair stood out to her.

Padma.

No clouds, no colours. Just Padma, sat there as if nothing that was happening was out of the ordinary, studying.

The library started emptying out, eventually. Students left in groups, some with more books than they could carry, to discuss ideas in their common rooms. But Padma stayed, and Hermione sat at her usual table watching her until the library was practically empty, unsure of what to do next.

As Padma finally stood up and made to leave, Hermione took a deep breath and walked over to her.

"I..."

"I know what you did." Padma interrupted. "I saw what you did, at breakfast."

"You did?"

Padma nodded and moved closer. "That was an impressive potion. But..."

Hermione swallowed. "But what?"

Padma kissed her softly on the cheek, and then whispered into her ear: "In future, you might just want to ask a girl instead." 


End file.
